The Peoria, IL Police Department Is Mistreating Their K9!

~EDIT~ I would like to say thank you to the few people who have recently signed the petition so that they can call me names and say that I don't know what I'm talking about. Thanks for the signatures, I'm halfway to my goal now thanks to you. I guess you didn't think that one through all the way did you? Whether you were bad mouthing me or not, you still signed the petition. As for this supposed "Hot Dog" system, I'll say again what I said to Chief Settingsgaard, prove it. Show me pictures of the system. Show me visual proof that these dogs are not being mistreated and I will take the petition down. You sure can talk a lot but I have yet to see any proof from any of you or from the Police Chief. And as a matter of fact, yes the dog was seen in the car. I would not have created a petition about it if the dog wasn't seen in the car several times. As for people who do not live in Illinois signing, yes they have every right to sign the petition because, like me, they don't care about the PPD, they care about the dogs. And I will be leaving your signatures up, I don't care if others read what you have wrote because you have not proven anything and by you signing my petition you have helped me get closer to my signature goal. ~END EDIT~

The officer in charge of the K9 at the Peoria, IL police department does not seem to have any regard to the safety and well being of his partner, the K9 officer. This poor dog is often left in the hot patrol car all day with no food or water while the officer in charge of him walks around the mall. Police are supposed to 'Protect and Serve', so why aren't they protecting their own officers? Furthermore, if they can't even protect their own K9 officer, how can we (the citizens) be sure they can protect us?

Police dogs die every year from being left in squad cars or working in sweltering heat, according to the U.S. Police Canine Association. However, no agency tracks the number of heat-related deaths.

We must bring to the attention of the Peoria, IL Police Department, that their K9 officers are very valuable members of the police force and deserve to be treated as such. If someone does not know how to care for a dog, they shouldn't be allowed to have one, police officers are not immune to this. If they don't know how to care for the K9 officer, they shouldn't be in charge of it.

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The following is 3 other incidents of officers from different police departments who put their K9 officers in similar situations. The dogs mentioned below lost their lives because the officers in charge of them either didn't know how to take care of a dog, or they just didn't care.

The K9 officer at the San Diego, CA police department was in a similar situation in June, he died of heatstroke.

Officer Paul Hubka told authorities he found his dog Forrest in the car, parked in the driveway of his Alpine home June 20. Temperatures reached 108 degrees that day.

Investigators say the dog was in the car for possibly as long as seven hours; even a half-hour could be fatal. Interior car temperatures can reach 130 degrees on such hot days.

In Chandler, Ariz., a K9 sergeant was arrested last year and charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty for leaving his dog in the back of his car for 13 hours, according to news reports. A trial is pending.

In 1999, a San Diego police dog died when it was left in the back of a hot patrol car for 90 minutes during the summer.

Officer Lawrence Cahill said his air conditioning wasn't working well that day, but it was functioning. He chose to leave the dog in the car, with the windows rolled up, rather that put him in a kennel a few feet away.

The air conditioning gave out and the dog died of heat exhaustion.

Cahill was charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty, but his 2000 trial ended in a hung jury. The City Attorney's Office later decided to drop the case completely.

San Diego Animal Services Director Dawn Danielson had this to say: %u201CIt's a horrific way to die,%u201D Danielson said. %u201CHe's panting hot air, his insides heat up, he bleeds internally. He's in a state of panic, trying desperately to get out.%u201D

Information about the San Diego dogs and the Arizona dog was collected from: http://www.policeone.com/legal/articles/1718226-Probe-San-Diego-K-9-died-of-heatstroke/